The guest

[Kris O'Sullivan]

Kris felt the minds of the Arachnos agents, but suddenly had an idea when she sensed the devious emotions of the Longbow patrol in th alleyway. She looked over to Karl, who seemed to be looking for a particular place. Maybe he would welcome the distraction of the Arachnos agents running into the Longbow agents. The plan unfolded in that instant.

"Karl. Listen to me," she said, pulling her wits together. "There's a Longbow ambush around that corner. I can make them follow me back, and you can catch the attention of the Arachnos agents, back there. Then we'll use that fire escape, as they crash into each other, and lose interest in us. How about it?"

[Karl VonMandrake]

Karl looked back at Kris, his emotional state carefully kept in check.

Kris had noticed that Karl always seemed to keep himself in check. His every action, every movement, every thought seemed to be done in a controlled manner. For the entire time Kristina had spent with Karl, she had never gotten the sense of mood swings or random shifts in attention that she got from may of her other classmates (especially the boys). Being around Karlof and being aware of his emotions was almst like listening to a well maintained Lamborghini engine.

"Longbow also? It would be easier to eliminate them all, Kristina..."

"No, please, I... I don't think I could handle that right now, Karl! Please, please just..."

Her eyes pleaded with him, most of her face obscured by the mask she had taken to wearing when out of the apartment. The pain of another fight, of more violence at this moment was getting to be too much. Lycia's death was still weighing heavy on Kris's heart, and all she wanted was for all this to end.

Karl's shoulders seemed to sag a bit as he turned to see two more Wolf Spider Enforcers round the corner behind their lieutenant.

"Kerishlagra Woltentag!"

Karlof's arms shot out, rippling arcane forces seeming to distort space itself. Bringing his arms together, the young warlock grimiced as he felt the effort required to fling the Arachnos soldiers into the waiting arms of their Longbow foes. Sweat beading off his brow, Karl turned back to Kris.

"Move!"

[Kris O'Sullivan]

Kris obeyed, and let her instinct guide her with her logic keeping her instincts reigned in. Karl seemed, somehow to get just ahead of her, so she ended up following him, and holding onto his belt to let him know she was right there.

[Karl VonMandrake]

Karl's legs ached as he dashed up the fire escape, the exertion of maintaining his spell was wearing on him. Sweat trickled into his eye, the pressure of manipulating time and space in this manner pressed down on his entire body. It was then that Karl felt something… slip. Quickly looking back, Karl saw the ensuing brawl between the Longbow Agents and the Arachnos footsoldiers, but one of the enterprising Wolf Spiders had separated from the fight and was running after Kris and him.

Kris looked back to see what it was that Karl was looking at, her empathic senses feeling a break in his composure.

“Halt, in the name of Arachnos!”

Karlof sneered at the proclamation of the overdressed thug. His patience was short, and he would be damned if a lone lapdog of Recluse’s was going to keep him from finishing what he had started. With a clenched fist brought up, and through clenched teeth, VonMandrake hissed “Kerishlagh!” and sent the armored assailant hurtling violently into a nearby dumpster.

“We need to move more quickly now, Arachnos has a tendency to call for reinforcements from Fort Cerberus when Longbow becomes too much of a problem. Having visited there on more than one occasion, I can assure you that what they have stored within those walls we do not want to see be let loose on us!”

Kristina’s nod was all Karlof needed in the way of agreement.

45 minutes later

Kris was unsure how Karl was able to live so comfortably in the Rogue Isles. She had been out with him while she was his “guest”, but the view of the cities he had shown her were so different when they weren’t running through the labyrinthine back alleys of Mercy and Port Oaks. She had seen the people that all lived here and called this place their home before, now she saw the predators that skulked in the shadows.

Longbow, Lost, Snakes, even some things called Corralax! But the more she saw of the Isles, the more she was reminded of what kind of monsters lay in wait within the cracks of Paragon City. Karlof may have been no hero, but as she watched snakes slither in fear of the warlock, she knew he wasn’t some two-dimensional “dissident against order and justice” that so many heroes claimed all residents of the isles were. Leaning against a wall, Kris realized that she needed a rest.

“Karl, where are we going? You said you had someplace for us?”

Karl looked out on the street, checking for Arachnos patrols before moving again. “Yes… a place for me to go when I do not wish to be bothered by other students of the Academy. It is a cave on one of the far shores of this Isle. However, we can only get there by boat, because of the impassible mountains that run through the center. I have a speedboat waiting in the harbor, it will not be long, I promise.”

[Kris O'Sullivan]

"You look exhausted," Kris said, a bit worried. "Let me help you a little, okay?"

Reaching her hands out, Kris emminated a volley of empathic pulses to accelerate Karl's recovery rate. She herself began to feel renewed after a few moments. Hopefully, he would too.

"So, how did I get into your care, again," she asked, trying to remember everything that had happened over the past two weeks. "I mean if it was all you, then I owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude for saving my life. Although..."

Kris' thoughts went back to his news of Lycia, and she tried her best to be strong. This wasn't the time to be breaking down. Her friends at home could be her rock and safe haven.